JC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lady Chaps ready to prove their merit at national tourney

Oscar LeRoy | oleroy@mrt.com

Published 4:33 pm, Saturday, March 12, 2016

Photo: James Durbin

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Midland College women’s basketball head coach Ron Jones talks to his team during a time out in the game against Seward County College on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 at Chaparral Center. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram less

Midland College women’s basketball head coach Ron Jones talks to his team during a time out in the game against Seward County College on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 at Chaparral Center. James ... more

Photo: James Durbin

JC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lady Chaps ready to prove their merit at national tourney

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Midland College women’s basketball head coach Ron Jones had no doubt that his team had what it took to make the NJCAA National Tournament.

The Lady Chaparrals believed they had proven themselves by playing and beating quality competition throughout the season and had reached the Region V Tournament championship game from a field that included five Top 25 teams, including No. 4 New Mexico Junior College -- the tournament champion.

The only question was whether the NJCAA committee would think that the Lady Chaps were deserving of an at-large bid.

As it turns out, MC did enough to get in with an at-large bid, and even though it was the last team selected for the 24-team field, the Lady Chaps (26-6) enter the tournament as the No. 9 seed. MC will play No. 24 Highland (Ill.) College (21-10) in a first round game at noon Monday at Lubbock’s Rip Griffin Center.

“I think our region was very deserving,” said Jones of the at-large bid. “We had five teams in the Top 25 and Collin County was a very good team as well, Odessa College was a very good team. I just think we deserved two and I’m glad we’re one of them.”

While the Lady Chaps beat some good competition throughout the year and had the talent on the court to do so, the team said the key ingredient to its success was its chemistry between the players. The Lady Chaps said that is something that developed quickly.

“We’re more mature and I think we play more together than last year,” said sophomore Valentine Zambelli, a guard from France. “I think last year was more individual play. I saw that chemistry develop early.”

Added Jones: “Even though we’ve had some ups and downs and haven’t been as consistent as we want, they have always stuck together and rebounded mentally, which is the biggest challenge.”

Freshman guard Kayla Bretherton said the effort to get to this stage in the season is a credit to everyone involved.

“Definitely our coaches were a key and how much effort they put in, how much effort we’ve put in,” Bretherton said. “We’ve worked hard and we’re a great team that gets along, so that helps us out as well. We definitely deserve to be there. I hope we do well, I hope we make it all the way.”

The Lady Chaps are certainly not content to just be there. They think that if they play well together, they have a shot to make a run at a national title.

“I think it’s another chance to prove ourselves,” said sophomore post Walnatia Wright, the Western Junior College Athletic Conference MVP. “We just can’t be happy to be there. We have to give it all we’ve got to win nationals. We just have to play hard and be aggressive. It’s the same thing that we’ve had to do all year.”

Added Zambelli: “We can win, definitely. I think we got everything we need to be a good team. We just have to work all together as posts and guards. I think we can be great. We need to bring great energy and if we follow the coach’s game plan, we can do really well.”